Red - Part One, Chapter Three

Revealed: Peter and NIck tell Lee they know about Hara. Devil in a black dress: Marla knows Lee, and Hara's not happy about it.

You May Not Re-Enter A Room On A Single Turn

 

            “So, Lee. We heard you were in the nurse’s office today.” Peter said looking up from his homework as Lee entered the room.

            “Huh? Repeat that?” Lee threw his bag and books on the end of the couch, went into the kitchen, and started to loot through cupboards for something to eat.

            “I said, we heard you were in the nurse’s office today.”

            “Where’d you here that?” He was still distracted by the fact that he was starving to really pay attention to what Peter was saying.

            “A little red bird told Nick and I.”

            “Birds don’t talk, stupid.”

            “It’s a metaphor, dorkwad.”

            “For what?” he asked, still preoccupied by hunger.

            “Well, I’ll give you a hint: She’s beautiful, she’s got huge tracks of land…”

There was a clattering noise as Lee dropped the package of cookies he was holding and poked his head slowly above the bar.

            “Dude, you didn’t let me finish. I was on a roll.”

Lee was pretty sure he had gone white in the face.  The only way they would know that he went to the nurse was if…but they didn’t…or did they? Hara was beautiful and did have…he whacked himself on the forehead. He was not going to think about that.

            “You don’t need to finish. Hara obviously told you what happened. My question is, how did you find her and get her to tell you? And how did you know to find her? Are you stalking me?” All of this came out in a rather rushed manner, which was to say that Lee was rather embarrassed that his friends had found out about it in the first place. He had sincerely hoped that it could have been kept between Hara, her friend, and himself. However, now it was to be between Hara, her friend, himself, and the peanut gallery that also functioned, apparently, as Big Brother.

            “Please. You make it sound like we hunted her down or something.”

            “Knowing you guys, you probably did.”

            “Okay then,” Peter said throwing his books on the floor and sitting up on the couch. “How do you think it happened?”

            “Well, somebody could have seen Hara and me walking to the nurse’s office. Then that person must have known that I hang out with you guys and found you and told you that I went to the nurse’s office with some girl and then you would have gone out and found the girl that matched the description and questioned her as to why we were going to the nurse.” Lee illustrated this with rather elaborate hand gestures, mostly out of exasperation.

            “Negative. I was scouting out prospects for a weekend date and she wandered past looking lost. Nick and I, out of the goodness of our hearts, decided to help her out. We walked her back to her dorm and she told us everything.”

Lee turned pale again and bent down to recover the cookies he had dropped on the floor.

            “Okay, no actually, she didn’t tell us everything it happened to come up in a there’s-somebody-for-everybody conversation. She told us you might be worth the trouble she was causing you.” Peter said picking up his pile of homework again. Lee froze with a cookie halfway to his mouth.  Peter’s words seemed to ring in his ears: You might be worth the trouble she was causing you…You might be worth the trouble she was causing you. This seemed to alleviate him slightly, but he couldn’t really put a finger on why. He couldn’t like her that much already, could he? He had just met her so it seemed unlikely that he liked her more than he had to like her. Then again, maybe it was because she had made such a good first impression on him. He took the cookie the rest of the way to his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

            “It is finished, gentlemen.” Nick proclaimed rather triumphantly as he entered the lounge.

            “What’s finished?” Lee asked, putting another cookie in his mouth.

            “Our answering machine message.” Nick said, moving Lee’s books onto the floor and seating himself on the couch.

            “I don’t know whether to be scared or relieved.”

            “Be relieved, my friend. This means you don’t have to worry about setting it up.”

            “Yeah, but the last time you guys set it up….”

***

            “Okay, it’s done!!” Peter whooped.

            “What’s done?” Lee asked, looking up from the couch.

            “The voice mail message. Try it out.” Nick said, handing Lee his cell phone.

            “Then why do I feel scared?” he asked, taking the phone from Nick.

            “I have no idea. Just call and test it out, will you?” Peter inquired anxiously.

Lee rolled his eyes and dialed the dorm number. The phone rang in their room but no one picked it up. Peter and Nick stared at him expectantly as Lee heard the machine pick up.

            “So how are you doing, Caboose? Are you following any of this whatsoever?” Peter’s voice asked.

            “I think so.” came Nick’s reply. “That guy Tex is really a robot, and you’re his boyfriend. So that would make you…a gay robot.”

            “Yeah.” Peter replied. “That’s right. I’m a gay robot.”

To his surprise, Lee heard his own voice:

            “Please leave a message after the tone.”

The machine beeped and Lee hung up, disgruntled. Peter and Nick stared at him expectantly.

            “What the HELL?!” Lee raged. “That was idiotic! Next time, I’m doing it!”

***

            “I mean, we were the gay robot room the rest of the year. I don’t want that to happen again.”

Nick shuffled his feet nervously. 

            “Well, then I think it best that you assess what may be, in your view, the damage I have done to this year’s voice mail.”

            “Oh god. More gay robots?” Lee asked, picking up his phone and dialing the dorm number.

            “No, The thing is, when you dial our number….”

Nick trailed off as the phone rang. The boys let it ring until the machine picked up. Lee put his cell on speakerphone and set it on the counter so that Peter could hear too.

            “Hello. Thank you for calling Disturbing the Peace. To help expedite your call, please listen carefully to the following options: If you are calling to solicit a demo tape, press one. If you are calling regarding a job, press two. If you are calling to borrow money, press three. If you are calling to find the nearest weed spot in your area, press four. If you are out of alcohol on Sunday, press five. If you need a hoe for the evening, press six.  If you woke up with a hangover and a pair of hairy balls on your forehead, press seven. If you would like to leave a message for Lee, Peter, or Nick, please give your name, number, and reason for calling after the tone.”

The phone beeped and Lee hung up. They sat in silence for a few minutes while they digested what they had just heard.

            “I think that has got to be the stupidest thing you have ever done.” Peter said, going back to his homework for the third time.

            “Well, I have to give you some credit.” Lee said, running a hand through his hair. “I mean, it was better than the gay robot thing.”

            “So, you are not mad at me?” Nick asked, looking up at Lee who was busy rummaging in the cupboard again.

            “No,” came the muffled reply. “It could have been a lot worse. Though if anyone calls, we might have some explaining to do. Especially to our parents or if anyone from the school calls.”

            “You have a point there.”

            “Well, I’m too tired really to do anything about it at the moment, so for right now, I’ll let it slide. Just figure out something a little more sane next time.”

            “You got it chief.”

            “Question: Why are you calling me that?”

            “Because you kind of are.” Nick remarked getting up from the couch.

            “Thanks, I guess.” Lee rolled his eyes and went back to scrounging.

            “Dude, you know we have opening dinner in an hour, right?” Peter asked, not looking up from his work.

            “Yeah, and I’m supposed to be there in half an hour. Thanks for reminding me.”

            “No prob, chief.”

            “Why do you keep calling me chief?”

            “You want us to call you Magnus?”

            “Not particularly.” Lee said, coming around the bar and picking his books up off the floor.

            “It’s your name.”

            “It’s so formal.”

            “It’s still your name.”

            “Well, if you want to get technical, I still use it. I just shorten it to M. Lee Anderholt.”

            “MLA.”

            “That isn’t funny.”

            “They’re your initials.” Lee blew a raspberry. Peter peered up at him.

            “Well, they are. And it’s better than being APA.”

            “How does my sister somehow get into every conversation we have that revolves around my name?” Lee asked, standing up with his arms full of books.

            “Because both of your initials happen to correspond to two major writing formats.”

            “Ugh, and you always have to remind me. I’m going to shower and change.”

            “Have fun with that.” Peter called as Lee exited.

 

Marla stared at herself critically in the mirror as she carefully ran the straightener through the last section of her hair. It was always so much trouble to straighten her hair, but it was opening dinner tonight and she wanted to look good, especially since there would be a chance to see the handsome red head again and have the opportunity to present herself to him. She finished with her hair, set the straightener on the bathroom counter, turned it off, and picked up her brush. She carefully ran it through her hair to make sure all of the sections were blended together and set the brush back on the counter.

“Are you almost ready? It’s time to go.” said her roommate, a girl with long black hair, popping her head into the bathroom. Marla turned towards her, unplugged the straightener, and smiled.

“Yes, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

“Cool. I was beginning to think you were going to spend the entire opening dinner getting ready.” the roommate laughed. Marla smiled again as she picked up her purse off the couch and they headed towards the door.

“Where’s…” Marla asked.

“She left already. You were taking forever and she went to save us seats.” the roommate interrupted.

“I thought it was reserved seating.”

“It is, but she wanted to make sure that they knew we were coming so that they didn’t give up our spots.”

“Why wouldn’t you come to the opening dinner?” Marla turned to the door making sure it was locked and that she had her key.

“Lazy or stupid or possible both.”

“Eh, you do have a point.”

“But I’m with you. This is the first chance everybody has to co-mingle. Not that we didn’t do some of that today, but it’s a little more official, you know?” the roommate asked as they started down the stairs. Marla laughed.

“Most definitely.” The rest of the trip to the dining area was relatively silent. There were seemingly droves of other students heading in the same general direction and since neither of the girls knew exactly where they were going, they followed everyone else. Upon entering the dining hall, their coats were taken by what Marla deduced was either a club or a sports team, and then given a number to retrieve them later. They were then ushered to their places in the dining hall, which had been transformed especially for the occasion. The round tables that took up the majority of the floor space were arranged leaving space for the small stage and a podium at the front of the room. Each of the tables was covered in a neat white tablecloth with arrangements of lilies and roses in the center of each, having table settings for ten at each of the tables around the room, each setting with a glass of water and plastic wine glasses. After being seated towards the front of the room, Marla took note of the long tables at the front of the room behind the podium, also decorated with a white tablecloth, flower arrangements, and place settings with water and wine glasses, briefly wondering who would sit there, but her question was soon answered when the student council filed in with what she assumed to be faculty and board members around the table and took seats behind the table. Marla scanned the table for the red head she had seen this morning and spied him between her British Literature professor and another woman she did not know. He was dressed in a black suit with an orange vest and a black tie, very similar to what the other males in the room were wearing. The ladies, including herself, were dressed in black sleeveless dresses that came to their knees tied around the middle with a rather ridiculously large orange bow in the back. Marla saw no real point for the bow, other than the fact that the school seemed to really like orange or something. She observed the red head, who was talking rather animatedly to Dr. Wrong. He smiled, and the room seemed to get a little brighter. She tore her eyes away and scanned the room for her other roommate, but she was nowhere to be found. Her other roommate next to her had taken her cell phone out of her purse and was busy text messaging somebody, nonchalantly brushing strands of her long black hair over her shoulder as she moved her thumb over the keypad with speed and accuracy. After a moment she stopped, put the phone back in her purse, and crossed her legs.

“She’ll be over in a minute.” Marla grinned.

“And she thinks I was taking forever.”

“You were taking forever. You didn’t have to straighten your hair.”

“I know, but there is someone here tonight that I wanted to meet.” Marla said, her eyes falling on the red head at the front of the room, who was now swirling his finger in a bored manner around the rim of the water glass.

“Hmm…and would this someone happen to be sitting with the student council?” the other girl asked, following Marla’s gaze. Marla smiled in a slightly demonic manner.

“Yes, he in fact is.” The roommate laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked a short red haired girl joining them at the table. It seemed to Marla that she was the only one on which the orange bowed dress did not look moderately ridiculous, possibly because she was better proportioned than most of the other females in the room.

“Marla was telling me that she wants to introduce herself to Mr. Clubs Director tonight.”

“Who?” the red head asked. The black haired girl pointed to the red head at the student council table. The other girl grinned.

“Oh, you mean Lee?” Marla looked at her and smiled manically.

“Is that what his name is? I like that name…Lee….” Marla tested it out. It sounded good to say. “How did you know his name?” Marla asked.

“Well, gee, she kinda flashed him earlier and had to carry him to the nurse’s station. I’d remember a guy’s name after that.”

“Jane, Marla did not need to know that. I thought we could just keep it between the three of us.”

“Hara, please, for all you know, he could have run back to his room after classes were over and told his friends everything.”

“Considering his friends walked me back to Horton House earlier and the fact that I had gone to the nurse with him earlier came up in the conversation and they seemed surprised about it…”

“It came up in the conversation?” Marla raised her eyebrows.

“I was telling them how Jane said it would be good for me to get out and date and how he might be worth the trouble.”

“If he didn’t tell his friends about it, he must truly be a righteous male!” Jane said, rummaging in her purse. “What was his last name again, Anderholt?” She produced a pen and a small stack of sticky notes and scribbled fervently.

“What are you doing?” Hara inquired.

“We can use his sperm for our bonfire on Valentine’s day!”

“Phoebe, if we know a righteous male, there may be no need for a valentine’s bonfire. We previously did not know a righteous male, therefore the reason for the bonfire. That, and the last time we did that, we almost burned down the dorm.”

“Sounds amusing.” Marla remarked, sipping her water, her eyes still on Lee who was talking with Dr. Wrong again. She smile silently to herself as she took another sip of her own water. All the tables were now filled with students talking and chatting, making the noise level seem like they were at a rock concert. The student president stood up at the podium and the noise died away.

“Good evening everyone and welcome to the start of the year banquet. I would like to extend a special welcome to all the ladies in the room, as this is their first year here at Deighton and a special welcome back to all of the gentlemen in the room.”

It seemed to Marla that all of the teachers must have gotten script at the start of the term and memorized it, because the same welcome speech was starting to sound stale.

            “Working together with the staff and faculty, as well as you the students, we hope to make this year at Deighton memorable both for those leaving and for those who have a few more years of schooling ahead of them. Your comments and feedback will be appreciated in the next few weeks while we work on planning the events for the year. But for now, I hope you all enjoy the banquet!” She smiled and the audience clapped as an army of waiters appeared and began serving food to the tables. First, they were presented with a garden salad colored with mandarin oranges and a fruity dressing whose taste Marla could not place. After they were finished with the salad, the waiters whisked away their plates and replaced it with a tomato and basil bisque soup, which was good, but very hot. After their soup dishes had been cleared, they were presented with steak, dirty mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.

            “They are really intent on getting all of the food groups into a meal, aren’t they?” Jane mused as she cut up her steak.

            “Mmm...yeah. But think about how many people don’t get all of their fruits and vegetables.” Hara said between bites of mashed potatoes. Jane shrugged.

            “It’s excellent food to say the least.” Marla interjected.

            “Indeed.” Jane said, taking a bite of her steak and cutting herself another. 

They made their way through the steak course and the waiters again whisked away their plates and came around the room with bottles of carbonated apple cider, filling all of the plastic wine glasses. A man took the podium who introduced himself as the dean of students and he welcomed the students and faculty back, saying that he hoped that this year would be wonderful and exciting, as the last ones had. He then invited the students to take up their glasses as he made a toast to the success of the coming year. There was a clink of plastic on plastic as the students touched glasses and drank the cider. Marla drank slowly, savoring the flavor of the drink as she watched Lee at the front of the room who took a small sip of his cider and then set it back on the table. She surmised that he was not a big cider drinker and made a mental note of this fact while the dean sat back down in his seat and the army of waiters served dessert to each of the tables – a small crystal bowl of spumoni ice cream. After the ice cream was finished, the bowls were scooped up and the students began to casually mingle. Hara got up and began working her way through the crowd towards the front of the room; Jane was busy text messaging on her phone again, so Marla decided to follow where Hara had gone. She moved slowly through the crowd, taking her time. Her entrance had to be perfect, everything had to be timed precisely in order to achieve the greatest amount of surprise. She spied Hara through the crowd, Lee’s back towards Marla. She walked behind him silently and stood there a moment before speaking.

            “Hello, Magnus.” She smiled manically. She watched as Hara’s smile morphed into a look of confusion; Lee’s back stiffened as he turned to face down at her, his hands clenched and knuckles white. She could tell he was resisting the urge to strangle her and he was doing it rather well.

            “Hello, Marla.” he smiled. It looked painful.

            “I never thought I’d see you here.” Marla smiled.

            “You know that I go to school here. What do you want?” he asked stiffly.

            “You know what I want, Magnus. You just don’t want to give it to me.”

            “Perhaps if you were a nicer person, I would be more willing to cooperate. As this is not the case…”

            “Oh, now Magnus. Don’t be mad. Also, I do not believe that it would be wise to confuse my poor roommate.” Lee’s eyes widened and looked over his shoulder at Hara, who still looked confused.

            “Oh,” she said. “I see you know Marla.” She swallowed and blinked furiously. “I’ll see you in classes tomorrow.” She pushed past them and made her way back towards the table where she had been sitting. Lee watched her go with longing eyes and bit his lip, his hands unclenched, looking rather defeated. Marla watched Hara disappear in the crowd and then turned back to Lee.

            “Nice to see you again, Magnus. We should have coffee sometime.” She smiled and turned, following Hara back through the crowd.

Reviews

[Kaitlyn M.]

*kicks Marla* Yeah, your story's after-effects illicit emotions that I want tot ake out on characters asif they were real people. Superb job, dear. Love love love. There's nothing wrong with this, other than the "Friends" joke I didn't get, but that's not your fault. LOL.RED IS LOVE. I mus go read more now. Sorry I can't be more constructive right now.

[Beth Elaina]

Grrr...and it was going all perfect, too. Oh well; a perfect, tidy little story would be very short, and no one would read it, I suppose. Excellent work, once again. Must...read...more...

[Harish Jackson]

Whoa...that was a twist. Stupid authors who end their chapters on such dramatic scenes...*grumble*.